The present disclosure relates generally to turbine engines and, more specifically, to unitarily formed turbine and fan blades for use in a turbine engine.
At least some known axial flow turbine engines include a rotor shaft and at least one turbine stage or at least one fan stage coupled to the rotor shaft. At least some known stages include a disk and circumferentially-spaced apart blades that extend radially outward from the disk. Each blade includes an airfoil and a dovetail at its root where the dovetail is radially retained in a complementary slot in a perimeter of the disk. Other known stages include the blades integrally manufactured with the disk as a one-piece component conventionally known as a blisk (i.e., bladed disk). The blisks are then coupled to the rotor shaft with a central tie bolt or a Hirth coupling, for example, to achieve torque transmission between the blisks and the rotor shaft, or between adjacent blisks. In at least some known turbine engine architectures, the turbine stages and fan stages are formed along the same axial plane of the turbine engine. As advancements in manufacturing techniques for turbine components continue to develop, there may be opportunities for improving engine performance in turbine engines that include integrated turbine and fan stages.